Good location between New York New York and Luxor.
Hotel itself in need of updating. Rooms dull and outdated furnishings. Poor overall service. Rude housekeeping staff. Charges $1 per day for use of the phone even if you never make a local call. Not worth the money and suggest you try other hotels on the strip. Stratosphere/MGM or Mirage much better value for money.

We stayed at the Excalibur for two nights - July 18 and 19, 2008. We rented a car at the airport and had a fairly easy time locating the hotel. However, locating where we were supposed to park to check in (we didn't want to use valet parking), was somewhat confusing. We finally ended up with my husband dropping me and the luggage at the door while he searched for a parking space somewhat nearby. One of the bellman noticed me, and offered to help me inside (it was 109 degrees!!!). He helped me in, and even went out of his way to keep an eye out for my husband.
Check in was relatively uneventful and quick. We had booked the room online and had already paid 1/2 of the amount for a deposit. Our room was located on the 16th floor of tower 2.
The room was clean. We had one of the rooms with a plasma TV which was nice, but my husband was disappointed in the small number of channels. We had a nice view of the strip, but noticed later on that even though the view was nice, there was the noise of the traffic, too!
There were a couple of things I that I would have liked to have seen in the room: A full length mirror would be nice, as well as some sort of shelf in the shower on which to place shampoo, etc. (there is a soap dish). Also, the lighting in the room could be a lot better - it was nearly impossible for me to read my book at bedtime...
We attended the Tournament of Kings show and thought that it was really good - considering the difficulty level of performing such a show. The food was surprisingly good, and the service was good, as well.
Check out went smoothly for us ... we used the check out kiosk located in the lobby area near the elevators.
One thing we noticed about the hotel is that there were a lot of children ! I would recommend it as being "family friendly", but I think that my husband and I will choose a hotel with a more mature crowd next time we are in Las Vegas.
All in all, I would say that this is a good, clean, comfortable hotel, with courteous and knowledgeable staff.

If you have a problem at this hotel, keep your mouth shut! Thats their policy. They will not lift a finger to help and will be annoyed and make snotty comments if you have even a minor problem.

The "renovated" rooms are not much of an upgrade from the older rooms.
The carpet already had threads pulled out all over.
The 42" plasma TV was nice but they do not get a digital signal so it was also a total waste.
The only thing in the bathrooms that was renovated was the granite counter. Everything else was old. The door frame was split to the bathroom. The shower grout was old and gross. They did improve their soap and shampoo.

The new carpets in the halls and elevators are already stained.

The casino isn't as smelly as it used to be but the games stink. I played some spanish blackjack and the cranky pit bosses totally ignored my players club card. I gambled elsewhere and didn't encounter this problem anyplace else.

The security guards at the elevators were not there all the time. Bad security.
The hall was full of marijuana smoke one night. Not quite family friendly as they seem to be catering to broke druggies.

Tower 2 was shut down because of a fire alarm the first day. It was too dangerous for people to go up but they did not evacuate the people in their rooms. Had there been a real fire there would have been a massive tragedy.
People were coming off the elevators and asking what was going on. There was a crowd of 60 people waiting to get to their rooms.
I asked at the front desk what was going on. The front desk manager did not even know what was happening and had to phone security. I asked when it would be resolved and was told by the desk manager, "I don't see that it's MY problem."
Another employee made a snotty comment to me after that.

If there is ever a real fire, you will not be evacuated, you will burn.

I stayed at the Excalibur hotel for 2 nights in July. The room was of average size. There was nothing fancy about the decor but the room was clean. Our alarm clock wasn't working and when I called to request a new one, we never received it. The bathroom had a large countertop area and was large in general, although there was no bathtub (just a large shower stall). There is no coffeemaker in this room (although I didn't mind, others I was travelling with did). The room key card was fickle and it took several attempts to open the door each day. All that being said, the price is hard to beat for the quality and location of this hotel.

The casino has a lot of varied slots but I thought it was a little low on tables. The sports book is big and comfortable enough. There is a small food court with fast-food restaurants and there are four or five more traditional restaurants. The Camelot Steakhouse was excellent. The Roundtable buffet food was of mediocre quality but it's hard to beat the price on the central strip ($16.99 dinner). My travel companions said that the service at the sherwood forest cafe was terrible (but food was good).

The excalibur is in a good location across from the Tropicana, NY/NY, and MGM Grand, and next to the Luxor. There is a free tram that runs from the Excalibur to the Luxor and Mandalay Bay.

I think this is a prime location for families as I saw a lot of kids in this hotel. Overall, a great value for people travelling on a budget.